Early to Bed (musical)

Early to Bed is a musical produced by Richard Kollmar with music by Fats Waller, and lyrics and book by George Marion Jr. The comic farce takes place in a brothel in Martinique, which various visitors arriving for an international athletics competition mistake for a finishing school. The madam attempts to maintain this misapprehension while various characters have romantic dalliances.

It premiered in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1943 before moving to Broadway for a year-long run, and it subsequently went on tour. Much of the original material for Early to Bed was lost after the tour, including four of its songs, and no cast recordings exist due to the 1942–1944 musicians' strike. Some of its songs were published as sheet music, and Waller recorded versions of some of them himself, but he died suddenly during the Broadway run. Two of its songs feature in the 1978 revue Ain't Misbehavin', and the show was reconstructed and performed as a small-scale revival in 2009.

Early to Bed received highly positive reviews, with critics praising the performances and visual elements. Waller's music received a more mixed reception, and the plot, though one-dimensional, was considered enjoyable.

Despite its success, Early to Bed came at a time when Broadway musicals were becoming more ambitious in scope, and its variety show aesthetic quickly became dated, limiting historical interest and the appetite for revivals. Today it is best known for featuring the music of Waller, and it marks the first instance of a black composer writing a Broadway show for a mostly white cast.